SUNY Plattsburgh

News and Press Releases

Hawkins Hall to Go Blue for World Diabetes Day

04:55pm EST, 9 Nov 2012

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (Nov. 9, 2012) — Members of the community are invited to dress in blue and join in as a human circle forms in front of Hawkins Hall in honor of World Diabetes Day, starting at 4 p.m. Nov. 14.

Later, at dusk, the building itself will be illuminated in blue to raise awareness of diabetes.

The college’s student nursing club is sponsoring the event.

“They see firsthand the number of patients fighting this disease as well as its debilitating complications during their clinical rotations both in the hospital and throughout the community,” said Jill Folsom, an adjunct nursing faculty member at the college and a volunteer with the International Diabetes Federation.

World Diabetes Day is a global event that unites millions of people trying to get the word out about the dangers of diabetes in more than 160 countries.p>

Diabetes is a leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and amputation. The number of people living with the disease has increased considerably over the past 30 years. In 1985, an estimated 30 million people worldwide had the affliction. Today, that figure exceeds 300 million, according to the International Diabetes Federation and World Health Organization.